HUNTSVILLE—Raging waters in cottage country won’t abate for several days as the Muskoka River breached several dams Monday, leaving scores of homes and roads flooded and swallowed up boathouses and docks.

The towns of Bracebridge and Huntsville remain in a state of emergency “for the foreseeable future.”

Homes on the Big East River were particularly drenched. The flooding began in earnest Friday, leaving a pool of water in Lorne Marshall’s basement — he’s been pumping out water 24 hours a day since Saturday, gassing up his son-in-law’s generator several times and keeping a constant watch.

“I’ve probably spent $100 on gas — it’s been going non-stop since Saturday.” His entire property was covered in about a metre of water on the weekend, and was stripped of all its grass. His gazebo began slipping into the river and had to be pulled to higher ground with an ATV and a pickup truck.

Lorne Marshall lost a small parcel of his land to the water along with several trees, including a giant Jack Pine, but “we’re lucky — we’re not as bad as those guys,” he said, pointing at several homes on the other side of the river that were half underwater. “They lost everything.”

Those houses were evacuated, as were dozens more along the flood plains that stretched from Algonquin Park in the north to Bracebridge in the south and Bancroft in the east.

Water levels have peaked, according to Jolanta Kowalski with the Ministry of Natural Resources, but they’ll remain at the same level for several days. The ministry declared flood emergencies in eight regions across Ontario, from the south end of Algonquin Park in the north to the Kawartha Lakes and Bancroft in the east.

It was “absolutely perfect conditions” that allowed the rivers in the area to rise to record levels, said Dave Phillips, a climatologist with Environment Canada.

More than 136 mm of rain fell in April, Phillips said, the most for the month since record keeping began in 1876.

“And the average temperature in April has been 1.3 C, which is three degrees lower than normal,” Phillips said. “So ground remained frozen until last Thursday when temperatures rocketed to above 20 C.”

And then the rain came down in torrents, nearly 90 mm last Thursday and Friday. Steam billowed from the snow, which melted quickly. And all that water funnelled into the rivers.

The flooding left carnage in its wake with entire parking lots disappearing under the water in Huntsville. MP Tony Clement dubbed one lot “Beer Lake” on Twitter due to the nearby beer store, which remained open with water just metres from its doors.

Further south in Bracebridge the water breaching several dams Monday along the North and South Muskoka Rivers. Damage is difficult to gauge at this point, according to Mayor Graydon Smith.

“We don’t know exactly how many houses have been flooded yet — at least dozens — but there will be a big financial hit to our citizens and the town.”

Smith said about 25 roads in and around Bracebridge have been closed and Hydro One has cut off power to about 200 residents — mostly north of Huntsville — for safety reasons.

The excess water has been pooling in Lake Muskoka. Chris Blaymires has been watching the water creep toward his home on the lake, with no sign of slowing. By 6 p.m. the water was within two metres of his house.

“It’s painful to watch,” Blaymires said. “So we try to distract ourselves and hope for the best.”

More on thestar.com

We value respectful and thoughtful discussion. Readers are encouraged to flag comments that fail to meet the standards outlined in our
Community Code of Conduct.
For further information, including our legal guidelines, please see our full website
Terms and Conditions.